República Bolivariana de Venezuela

Universidad Nacional Experimental Marítima del Caribe

Vicerrectorado Académico
Cátedra de Idiomas
Maritime English VII

The Importance of Effective Communication on Board

Ships

Communication is an essential part of human interaction. The benefits of

effective communication are many and obvious as they enhance all aspects of our
personal and professional lives. Ineffective or misunderstood communications in our
personal lives may give rise to problems or embarrassment but in our professional
lives the results of misunderstandings may have much more serious results. In the
world of international shipping, with seafarers from many countries sailing on ships
trading to all parts of the world, effective communication between those on board and
between ship and shore is vitally important.

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The importance of communications

Although used in a slightly different context, a phrase from some British

propaganda during WWII neatly sums up the dangers of ineffective communications:
‘Careless talk costs lives’. That may be over-dramatic in most cases where
communications between seafarers or between ship and shore go awry but it does
illustrate the importance of effective communications and the real dangers if they go
badly wrong.

IMO analyses reports of casualties and accidents to see if there are any
lessons to be learned for the future. Many accidents are found to be due mainly to
operational issues of proper procedure, maintenance and design, rather than to
proper implementation of regulations but effectiveness of bridge resource
management and particularly ineffective relationships between master, crew and pilot
are recurrent themes. Communication difficulties often occur in these areas due in
part to cultural differences but also due to language ‘barriers’. Some examples from
recent analyses illustrate the problems.

Tanker mooring accident

A 56,000 gt Bahamian flag tanker was berthing at an oil terminal in the UK

when a mooring line parted and struck the crew of a mooring boat causing serious
injuries. The pilot had intended to run the breast line ashore but not to make it fast
until the ship was alongside and had believed that the master had understood his
intention. The master thought however that the line should be heaved tight and
instructed the mate on the fo’c’clse accordingly. Because all verbal
communications between the master and crew were in Korean, a language he did
not understand, the pilot did not know that his intentions had been mistaken until the
accident occurred. The accident was caused because of the breakdown of
communications between the pilot and the ship’s master.

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Bulk carrier grounding

A 36,000 gt Panama flag bulk carrier was leaving port under pilotage when it
ran aground. The pilot was conning the vessel and giving instructions to the
helmsman but his attention was distracted and he failed to properly monitor the
actions of the helmsman. The result was that he failed to hear the helmsman’s
replies and the ship swung out of the channel and aground. The accident was
caused because of the poor communications between the helmsman and pilot.

Passenger ship fire

A small fire in some bedding spread throughout the ship and 158 people lost
their lives. Escape routes were filled with smoke and those unfamiliar with the ship
needed the assistance of crew and signage to find their way. The signs were not in a
language familiar to those who were passengers on board so provided an ineffective
means of providing safety instructions. The officers and many of the crew did not
share a common language and the language of the crew was not the same as most
of the passengers. Although the fire was not related to poor communications
between officers and crew, the poor safety organization on board coupled with the
inability of the officers to communicate with all of the crew and the inability of the
crew to communicate with the passengers, exacerbated the loss of life.

All three cases demonstrate, in their various ways, the need for effective
communications to ensure safe and efficient ship operation.

Communication

So what is communication? If it is so important, how do we ensure that when

one person talks to another, that the other person listens and understands? How do
we know if the message (or sign) has not only been heard (or read) but also
understood? What can be done to limit the opportunities for mistakes and to
enhance the effectiveness of communications?

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 It is a self-evident fact that people speaking different languages can generally
not converse at all and even people speaking their own language can misinterpret
spoken messages. Many will recall playing games where a message passed through
a series of people can become quite unrecognisable from the original message after
being re-worded or abbreviated by individuals passing a message one to the other.
And the reason these messages become garbled is probably because we probably
have too many ways of passing ideas one to another.

For effective communications, when the sender of a message communicates

with the intended recipient, there has to be a correlation between what the sender is
thinking about and what the receiver is thinking about. Text or words must therefore
be used in a consistent way, and the first requirement for communication is a set of
messages that are used consistently.

If we know why we fail sometimes to send or receive the intended

communications we can start to address the problem. The most obvious solution to
the problem of failure of communications through different languages is, of course, to
use the same one.

The language usually used on board ship is the national language of the crew.
However, in these days of multinational crews, a variety of languages may be used
or alternatively one working language adopted. Whichever is used, ships trading
internationally must conduct ship to shore communications in a language that can be
understood as navigational and safety communications must be precise and
unambiguous to avoid confusion and error.

And in the world of international transport and shipping, the chosen

international standard for achieving effective communication on board and between
ship and shore is the English language. An adequate standard of English is
therefore not only an international requirement for certification of seafarers but also
a key element in ensuring safe, efficient and profitable ship operations.

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 But even English speakers manage to misunderstand each other at times.
And when different national or regional variations of the English language are
added, the possibilities for miscommunication are increased. There is a saying
that America and the UK are divided by a common language and a few examples
serve to indicate the problems:

English American (English)

Bonnet (car) Hood (something on a coat)

Boot (car) Trunk (a suitcase)
Petrol Gas (a fuel to cook on)
Trousers Pants (worn under trousers)
Waistcoat Vest (worn under a shirt)
Full stop Period (a length of time)
Football Soccer

So the answer in the maritime world is to use a ‘standard’ form of English

where, as far as possible, words convey only one meaning so that the opportunities
for miscommunication are reduced to the lowest level possible.

English language

So which English to choose if there are so many versions? The answer of

course is not necessarily to favour one version of English over another but to choose,
and agree on an international basis, the words and their related meanings so that all
can use them. And the first IMO attempt at developing and agreeing a maritime
vocabulary – the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary (SMNV) – was
adopted by IMO in 1977. It was however not the only attempt at identifying maritime
and nautical words and phrases to be used by mariners. A number of countries and
individuals (including Captain Refik Akdogan from Turkey) produced books aimed at
those who taught English to mariners.

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 The SMNV was not intended to be mandatory but rather that through
constant repetition in ships and in training institutes the phrases and terms were
expected to become those normally accepted and used amongst seafarers in
preference to words of similar meaning. In this way it was anticipated that an
acceptable form of maritime English would develop for the interchange of
communications between seafarers and between ship and shore.

In the early 1990’s IMO realised that the changing conditions in modern
seafaring necessitated a more comprehensive standardized safety language
covering all major safety-related verbal communications. After a long gestation
period the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) were adopted by the
Assembly in November 2001 as resolution A.918(22).

Advantages of a dedicated vocabulary

The maritime world has, like many specialised areas of activity, a language of
its own. And some of the words and phrases are unlikely to mean anything outside
of the maritime world or, if the words are understood literally, the reader will gain a
wrong and possibly odd understanding: forward spring – a rope; a gypsy – part of the
windlass; monkey island – on top of the wheelhouse etc. So any vocabulary chosen
has to be aimed closely to the real work of the seafarer if it is to be used and be
useful.

And although being able to converse in English in all circumstances might be

welcome, as far as the seafarer training and education is concerned, it is more
important for him or her to be familiar with the words and phrases related to work. In
selecting those words and phrases however a number of factors need to be
considered:

 the time it takes to learn the vocabulary and the associated meanings; and
 the number of words and phrases an individual can be expected to absorb.

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 These factors are unlikely to limit the number of phrases and words identified
in a dedicated vocabulary but may have an effect on the ability of an individual to
learn and use them in the correct context. The number of different ideas that can be
identified is very large, particularly where it is possible to combine concepts or words
together to form new expressions.

The typical length of a message, for both sender and receiver, is ultimately
restricted by the amount of information that a person can handle at one time. Much
longer sentences can often only be understood only if they are easily decomposable
to shorter sentences so a vocabulary made up of shore terms or phrases that can
be combined will probably have a greater chance of success. And if we want it to be
used and understood internationally we need to make its learning a mandatory
requirement and the STCW Convention does this for parts of the SMCP.
Regrettably however, it is open to doubt if all native English speakers are taught the
SMCP as part of their training so there remains a possibility for confusion actually
caused by those with English as their mother tongue.

Importance of sound training

The international framework is set: a mandatory requirement for proficiency in

English; a standard maritime vocabulary; guidance in the form of an IMO model
course (3.17) based on the communicative approach to teaching, all that is needed to
complete the task is the teacher of maritime English.

If ‘careless talk’ does cost lives, then the responsibility on those who teach
English to seafarers is a major one. The task of the teacher is to create sufficient
opportunities for learning to take place. Communicative language teaching makes
use of real-life situations that necessitate communication and the SMCP provides a
very useful tool for developing those situations. Unlike the more traditional
audiolingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the
communicative approach can vary according to the student’s reactions and
responses. The real-life simulations can be change from day to day and be made

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topical. Teachers can set up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real
life and the students' motivation and understanding can be enhanced through
communication on meaningful topics. The good teacher therefore needs to be
constantly exploring new ideas and be imaginative in developing new situations.

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